Linda Nelson Gayhart

Oak Creek High School

Class of 1966

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Linda Nelson Gayhart - Class of 1966 - Oak Creek High School

First Name	Linda
Last Name	Nelson Gayhart
Graduation Year	Class of 1966
Gender	Female
Hometown	Oak Creek, Wisconsin
Relationship Status	Divorced
About Me	My family lived in Milwaukee until I was 7 and we then moved to Oak Creek. I am the oldest of 6 and have only brothers. I attended Oak Creek Schools (Otjen, Hickory Grove and OCHS) and my church was St. Mathews. I was involved in girl scouts up until I was 19yo. I graduated in 1966 and attended UWM for a year, with the initial goal of becoming a teacher. But life got in the way and the adjustment from suburb to the big city was too much. Social activities became my priority. I met my husband after a UWM dance and we dated for three years and married in 1969. Our first few years of marriage was tough, as my husband got drafted and reported for basic training, four days after our wedding. Instead of being assigned to Vietnam, he went to Germany. I joined him. We lived in Kafertal (near Mannheim) for 18 months and our first daughter, Lisette was born in Heidelberg on 9/12/70. Germany was quite the experience, but that is another story in itself. We returned to the states in April of 1971. My second daughter was born 9/1/73. Annie has many life challenges (learning problems and mental health) and there were a lot of trials and tribulations through the years. I am very proud of my girls. I love being a mom and was able to stay home with my children until 1976. I entered the work force. We moved to Caledonia in 1976 as we built our home. Unfortunately, my marriage was troubled and was divorced in 1979. I had several long term relationships through the years but never remarried. Presently, I am single and not in a relationship. My employment history is the following: I worked for Fotomat, Everbrite and then was a personnel administrator for 11 years at KCS Industries. I was laid off in 1992, but found another job in personnel but got laid off from that too. Economic times effected job availability and I found not having a degree was a deficit. I enrolled at Gateway Technical College and got an Associate degree in Human Services in 1994. I continued at Carthage College and got a Bachelor's degree in Social Work, graduating with honors in 1997. (It should be noted that I had the privilege to win a full scholarship ($50,000) at Carthage and was honored as the first social work fellow.) I was encouraged to keep going by my professors thus I continued my education at UWM and received a Master's degree in Social Work in 1998, once again with honors at the age of FIFTY. Throughout my six years of college I supported myself with driving school bus. Those years were my transition and found my place in life. I chose Social Work because I wanted to make a difference and apply my life experiences to help others. Social Work was my dream job. I worked for 11years in the Safety Service program. This is a unique program providing services to families with children whose safety was n jeopardy but with the implementation of the program, the children would stay in the home, with our monitoring. Family preservation was my goal. As stated above, I am very proud of my daughters. My oldest daughter, Lisette graduated from UWM with two degrees, one in Occupational Therapy and another in Psychology. She left WI and went south, presently in Florida. She married and blessed me with a great son in law and two beautiful grandchildren, Madison and Mackennan. Madi is 9yo and Mack is 7yo. (2010). My other daughter, Annie lives with me and is on disability but is doing great. We have a lot of support services and she is in a work program with the county and has worked at Old Country Buffet for about 7 years. Annie and I visit Lisette and her family a couple of times a year. We love getting that break from our cold WI winters. May/2010 Life is good!!! I am the matriarch of my immediate family now, with both my parents passing but my family has expanded with nieces and nephews now having children. Mom would be so proud. I retired this month and now am a woman of leisure, but the home projects are being revealed. But I am allowing myself a break until I begin the work. Now I have enter...(read more)